The manufacturing and service operations, their differences, and the Essay

The manufacturing and service operations, their differences, and the operation processes and systems that may be common to the two - Essay Example The quality of a service is realized when it consumed and this quality is quickly lost if the service is not received as fast as possible (Artige Company, 2005). It is almost difficult to provide or claim ownership of a service. Rather, it can just be lent temporarily. A product can be a physical item (goods), non-tangible items (services), or a combination of both the categories. Manufacturing operations involves creation of goods whereas service operations involve creation and delivery of services to consumers. A number of differences occur between the operations in the service industry and those in the manufacturing industry, which translate to a difference in some operation management techniques. Firstly, the service industry is labor-intensive (Zhou, Park & Yi, 2009) as it involves many manual processes characterized by interaction between human beings. This is contrary to the manufacturing processes where most functions are mechanized. As such, it is difficult to use standardiz ed and automated systems to improve operational efficiency in service industry (Zhou, Park & Yi, 2009). Besides, the employees have their own preferences and different processes may require varying amount of labor at a given time. This calls for a more integrated system for scheduling and control. The service industry is characterized by simultaneous production and consumption of the service products (Abilla, 2010; Zhou, Park & Yi, 2009). In manufacturing process, the goods are manufactured at some earlier dates and some lead-time is created in readiness for risks and uncertainties that may be encountered in future. The buffer is not possible in the service industry, which will just apply a Just-In-Time (JIT)... This paper illustrates that business organizations are engaged in the creation of products to be offered to their clients. These products can be good or services or a combination of both. Effective development of these products requires operations management, which is concerned with the ‘design, and management of products, processes, services, and supply chains’. Operations management will entail all the processes involved in obtaining these resources, their development, and final usage by the organization. The roles in operations management take different dimensions. Strategic roles involve making some long-term operations plan for the organization, especially at the onset of a given business project. Operations management applies for both a manufacturing company and a service company. A manufacturing operations manager may be required to determine the size of a manufacturing plant and its convenient location. Similarly, an operations manager may be required to determin e the appropriate type of service to be provided and to develop the technology supply chain that will be used. OM also involves tactical roles like choosing on the appropriate resources that are to be used in a given operation. Operational roles like inventory management, quality control and inspection, or production scheduling and control are the other category of operations management. The service processes are not that distinct from the manufacturing processes and some of the operations management roles applicable in manufacturing can be extended to the service industry.